Rector's Pondering ...

19 June 2011
Team Rector, Geoffrey Connor
Here we have no abiding city
If the UK Border Agency had existed in the 19th Century some of my relatives fleeing from Ireland would probably have been caught and turned back.  I would not exist.  Many of us have family roots which are not purely British.  Perhaps only those who live in the Celtic fringe lands can claim that title though, actually, even the Celts were part of a huge migration of Indo-European people from the East to the West.  In the current debate about immigration, it is worth remembering that the majority of us who live on English soil have arrived here because some of our ancestors pillaged and plundered their way into the country.

For reasons that many will be pleased about Britain operates a rigorous control of our borders.  Illegal immigration is firmly dealt with and those caught are swiftly deported. 

Humanity has often been more nomadic than static and there is a wanderlust which drives people to explore new places and exciting adventures.  Young people who can afford it have a gap year between studying and beginning work.  They wander the globe in a great trek which is not unlike the wandering of tribes in the past.  People like Bear Grylls reed this quest for adventure.  Holidays get more exotic.  Southend will no longer do.  Kenyan safari, a trip down the Nile, a Cruise in the Pacific visiting Alice Springs are much more exciting.  Those who can do this are the lucky ones.

There are others who set off on travels to escape oppression or poverty in their own country - like the Syrians pouring over the Turkish border.  There are many others.  A BBC Panorama programme on Thursday, Breaking into Britain, highlighted the
plight of young Afghanis and those from poor African countris who leave home in search of a better life.  Their stories, vividly told as only television can, showed us the depths humanity can stoop to in the treatment of people who are simply wanting a fair life.  If you didn't see it, you can catch it on BBC i-player.  But if you are squeamish or want to feel good about the human race, avoid it.  The United Nations Charter and Western Governments supposedly set great store by Human Rights and Human Dignity, but after watching programmes such as the one on the BBC, you really do have to read the small print.  The words so often are the myth.  The reality is much harsher.  At the end of the programme I felt ashamed to be part of the human race.  Can we really do these horrific things to people who simply want to live a better, more just and more free life?

Moses wandered 40 years with the people of God as they searched for the Promised Land.  As Christians we know that this Promised Land - the end of our earthly quest -  is God's Kingdom.  We are like the wandering Arameans of the past - we are travelling through this world to God's better world.  Ahead of us are those who have been rejected because it is the poor, the ill-treated, who will have a prior claim to that Kingdom and those who genuinely care for them.  Jesus who told us that he had nowhere to lay his head and also told us about serving him in the care of those in real need, including the need for respect and dignity.  It's in his parable about sheep and goats in Matthew 25.  He meant what he said.

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